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The Three-Body Problem and International Relations
James Wesley Hutto (Edited by), Wendy N. Whitman Cobb (Edited by)
9781683405719
Hardback, published 30 June 2026
312 pages, 5 Illustrations, black and white - 4 Tables, unspecified
23.5 x 15.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.628 kg
An introduction to key concepts in international relations and strategy through the interstellar narratives of Cixin Liu’s Hugo Award–winning trilogy Science fiction has long examined social, political, and moral issues through imagined worlds. This book uses Chinese author Cixin Liu’s award-winning trilogy as a teaching tool to illustrate complex theories of international relations. Comprising the novels The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End, the trilogy has been recognized for the ways in which, over a galactic scale of time and place, the stories explore how civilizations see each other and engage in strategic conflict. In this book, leading scholars draw on key moments from the trilogy to help demonstrate complex concepts such as deterrence, diplomacy, negotiation, competition, agency, game theory, colonialism, and feminist theory, as well as multiple levels of military strategy. By linking these stories to global politics and strategy, both on Earth and in space, “The Three-Body Problem” and International Relations offers an engaging, accessible introduction to concepts humans currently grapple with in the realms of global politics, foreign policy, and strategy.
List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction James Wesley Hutto and Wendy N. Whitman Cobb 2. Mainland Chinese Science Fiction: A Play in Four Acts Sale Lilly 3. Chinese Strategic Perspectives on the Three-Body Problem Shanshan Mei Part I: 3BP and the Discipline of IR 4. Mearsheimer’s Universe Is a Dark Forest: Offensive Realism as a Motivating Framework for Three-Body James Wesley Hutto 5. Prisoners, Colonists, or MAD Actors? The Changing Character of Payoff Structures in Remembrance of Earth’s Past Tim Bettis 6. Wallfacers, Domestic Politics, and Extinction: The Limits of Realism in Intergalactic Politics Michael A. Allen and Robert Herold 7. Is Thucydides Useful in Space? Earth as a Small State in The Three-Body Problem Máté Szalai 8. Deterrence, but in Space: What Cosmic Deterrence Tells Us About Coercion Jean-François Bélanger Part II: 3BP and the Practice of International Politics 9. Sophons, Wallfacers, Swordholders, and the Cosmic Safety Notice: Strategic Thought in Chinese Science Fiction Wendy N. Whitman Cobb 10. Strategic Insights from the Three-Body Trilogy: Ten Lessons for Navigating a Complex Universe Gregory D. Miller 11. When War Is Not a Duel: The Three-Body Game and the Scientific Way of Warfare Mark D. Jacobsen 12. Militant Clients and Insurgency: Trisolaris and the Earth-Trisolaris Organization Luke M. Herrington and Melia Pfannenstiel 13. Technology and Strategy in the Three-Body Problem Trilogy Jaganath Sankaran 14. Negotiation and Diplomacy in the Three-Body Problem Trilogy Roni Kay M. O’Dell Part III: Critical Readings 15. Taiwan and the Glutton Sea Dante K. Earle 16. Feminist Perspectives on Three-Body: Deterrence, Credibility, and the Portrayal of Women Wendy N. Whitman Cobb 17. Chinese Developmentalism and the Geopolitics of Remembrance of Earth’s Past Aleš Karmazin 18. Reading Three-Body as Utopian International Thought Stephen Benedict Dyson List of Contributors Index